Qinalizade 'Ali Celebi's state philosophy in the context of Akhlaq-i 'Alai

The concept of state has been prevalent in the history of political thought. Islamic philosophers have also contributed to the existing literature on state morality/philosophy by means of translated works thus far. One of the pieces back then was Ahlâk-ı Alâî (henceforth On Good Manners) written by Kınalızâde Ali Çelebi. Kınalızâde Ali Çelebi (d. 1572), an influential scholar who contributed greatly to the field of ethics in Ottoman Empire during XVI. century authored 'On Good Manners', which was shaped with the works of respectful Islamic scholars (i.e., Tehzîbü'l Ahlâk by İbn Miskeveyh; Ahlâk-ı Nâsırîs by Nasîrüddîn-i Tûsî; Ahlâk-ı Celâlî by Celâleddîn Devvânî). The current piece of work (i.e., On Good Manners) has some common points with the previous philosophical works on deeds of wisdom in terms of style, method and technique. However, the book has distinctive features which make it differ from the existing literature: It was written with the claim that the topics would be exemplified with a thick description as well as with a large number of sufistic elements. Moreover, the language of the book was Turkish. 'On Good Manners' consists of three epistles and the topic of state philosophy is covered through the sixth chapter of the second epistle and whole of the third epistle. Kinalizade was greatly influenced by Tûsî ve Devvânî with respect to state philosophy; however, he did not simply imitate the previous works, but considering the changing needs and problems of the society, he analyzed and criticized the philosophical movements up until then. The current research study aims to explore the way Kınalızâde Ali Efendi deals with state philosophy by uncovering the concept of state, the constituents of state, movements of thought related to statehood, Islamic state philosophy in general as well as by examining 'On Good Manners' in depth in particular.